Striker rallies to help baby cousin of Albion Academy player find life-saving donor
SAIDO Berahino is getting behind an awareness campaign to find a life-saving donor for the baby cousin of one of Albion’s Academy Under-Nines players, Theo Bailey.
The Baggies and England Under-21s striker, who also came through the club’s youth system, can be seen sporting a wristband promoting Twitter account @swab4margot and Facebook page Team Margot.
Margot Martini was diagnosed with Leukaemia in October, aged just 14 months, and requires a donor transplant within weeks.
She has an extremely rare form of blood cancer which has dual lineage - both Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) and Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), and is currently part way through her third bout of chemotherapy.
But in order to stand the best chances of successfully defeating this blood cancer, Margot needs a stem cell donation from someone with a similar tissue type as hers – a perfect match.
The family have therefore launched a campaign encouraging people to do something amazing: ‘Register. Swab. Save a life.’ in an attempt to increase the database of stem cell donors in the UK and elsewhere around the world.
If you are between 17 and 55 years old and in general good health, you could save a life - and it could be Margot's.
It only takes five minutes to register online at www.deletebloodcancer.org.uk/become-a-donor/basic-information.html and they will send you a DIY swab kit.
Or, you can visit The Mount Hotel, Mount Road, Tettenhall Wood, Wolverhampton, WV6 8HL, on Sunday, February 23, between 10am and 4pm.
Albion Academy Manager Mark Harrison said: “At times like these everyone at the club pulls together.
“When we heard about Theo’s cousin we were eager to help his family promote the campaign.
“We are all hoping it quickly turns up a suitable donor for little Margot.”
Email info@teammargot.com, Facebook Team Margot and Tweet @swab4margot.
At the core of the campaign is a video, which can be viewed on YouTube: